Power semiconductor modules require electrical terminals for their electrical contacting external to the module. To this end, in conventional semiconductor modules, terminal plates are often used which have a foot region at which they are soldered to a circuit carrier of the semiconductor module, and a terminal region which protrudes out of the module housing. Because of the heat capacity of such terminal plates, the soldering of the foot regions entails strong thermal loading of the circuit carrier, which may have the effect that the circuit carrier, and/or an electrical component with which the circuit carrier is pre-fitted, can be damaged or destroyed.
Another problem with the electrical terminals of semiconductor modules is their inductances. When the electrical terminals are used, for example, to deliver a control signal, for example a gate drive voltage, to a controllable semiconductor switch (for example an IGBT, a MOSFET etc.) installed in the semiconductor module, switching faults may occur because of the inductance of the electrical terminals, which lead to the controllable semiconductor switch being switched on or off late or early.
Instead of terminal plates, single terminal pins are also often used, which respectively have a first end that is arranged inside a module housing, and a second end that is routed out of the module housing. The first ends are connected inside the module housing to a metallization of the circuit carrier, while the second ends are connected to a printed circuit board external to the module. In order to connect the second ends to the printed circuit board external to the module, the second ends are often fitted into corresponding contact openings of the printed circuit board. To this end, the printed circuit board is pressed onto the second ends protruding from the module housing, although this requires correspondingly high forces which are transmitted via the terminal pins onto the circuit carrier. These forces cause mechanical stress of the circuit carrier, by which the circuit carrier may be damaged. Furthermore, the second ends need to be positioned relative to one another with high accuracy, so that they are aligned with their contact openings during mounting of the printed circuit board on the semiconductor module. Such precise positioning, however, entails great outlay. For example, after the actual fabrication of the semiconductor module the alignment of the second ends needs to be checked, and if appropriate corrected by bending, since otherwise the printed circuit board cannot be mounted. A similar problem arises when the module housing has a housing cover with openings, through which the terminal pins need to be passed. Besides all this, mounting of the individual terminal pins on the circuit carrier is also highly elaborate, since they respectively need to be positioned individually at a predetermined position of the circuit carrier, and connected thereto there.
Furthermore, the electrical connection inside the module of the electrical terminals requires a great deal of space for corresponding connecting lines. On the one hand, the semiconductor module contains a multiplicity of other elements, for example bonding wires or busbars, so that detours need to be taken into account in the routing of the connecting lines, and on the other hand the connecting lines also need to comply with minimum distances from other elements of the semiconductor module, for example in order to avoid voltage spark-over and leakage currents.